Respect Life Radio

Bishop Athanasius Schneider: The springtime that never came

Since the days of Saint Pope John XXIII, we were told “that we have entered — with Vatican II — a new time of the Church, a kind of new Pentecost and springtime. But everyone could state that it was really not a springtime. And now we are seeing that the churches are evermore empty and parishes are closed...convents are closed evermore and then the other aspects of the life within the Church, especially the great crisis of the clergy...the sexual abuses cases...and so on. In this sense, we cannot continue to speak about the springtime of the church,” said Bishop Athanasius Schneider, O.R.C., the auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, and author of "The Springtime that Never Came: In conversation with Paweł Lisicki" (Sophia Institute Press).

Hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Bishop Schneider: Restoring Catholic liturgy among the ruins. Follow him at his website, Gloria Dei, and @BishopAthanas1 on Twitter.

Jim Papandrea: Pondering the truths of the early Church? It’s Catholic

"Whenever people ask me, 'Give me the short answer of why you reverted to the Catholic Church?' I tell them I discovered two things. Number one, I discovered sola Scriptura [Scripture alone] is false. The other one I discovered: apostolic succession is true. Apostolic succession is that process of the handing down of the truths of the Church through the Church Fathers. When you read the Church Fathers, you finally realize — wait a second — the early Church is Catholic," said Jim Papandrea, Ph.D., a professor at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and the author of books, including "Reading the Church Fathers: A History of the Early Church and the Development of Doctrine" (Sophia Institute Press).

 

Papandrea, a former Methodist, told his reversion story in 2013 on "The Journey Home" on EWTN. Find out more at jimpapandrea.com.

Daniel Turner: The pro-life case for a fossil-fuel energy economy

“Part of respecting life, and having a pro-life sentiment, is creating a pro-life environment. That requires attention to family needs and personal needs and housing needs, etc. And all of that is undergirded by energy. America is what it is right now...because we have 150 years of reliable and inexpensive energy. And that has enabled us to move the vast majority of people into the middle class, to start jobs that open factories and businesses. And that brings with it dignity and purpose and opportunity. And quite frankly, the chance to glorify God, because you have value in your life," said Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of Power The Future, described on its website as a "501C4 with the mission of offering truth, facts, and research that will enrich the national conversation on energy."

Follow him @DanielTurnerPTF on Twitter.

Phil Lawler: Denying Communion to Speaker Pelosi a teaching moment for us all

In denying Holy Communion to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi until she publicly repudiates her advocacy of abortion, confesses and receives absolution, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is "protecting the integrity of the sacraments but...also trying to protect the person — in this case — from herself. Because if you are receiving the Eucharist unworthily, you're just heaping condemnation on yourself," said Phil Lawler, an author of books and editor of Catholic World News. He recently wrote an article, "Pelosi and the archbishop(s): what comes next?"

 

Follow him @PhilLawler on Twitter.

Laraine Bennett: Playing the game of Temperaments

"Let's just play a fun game and have people learn about themselves, and others, through that," said Laraine Bennett, a writer, author and the creator of "Know Thyself! The Game of Temperaments" (Sophia Institute Press), a game for those ages 12 and up, played with 480 temperament cards. Among her books, including those co-written with husband Art, are "The Temperament God Gave You" and "The Temperament God Gave Your Spouse."

 

Follow her @larainebennett on Twitter.

Mary Szoch: Flip the script to proclaim pro-life protections in the law and culture

“We should be referring to the laws that are passing here as 'pro-life protections' — not abortion bans. What we're doing with these laws is protecting unborn children's lives. The goal here isn't to ban things; the goal is to protect. So we need to flip that language and not allow the pro-abortion movement to control this narrative, this idea that we're somehow taking away someone's rights. We're not taking away rights; we're saving lives. And saving women and men from heartbreak," said Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council.

Follow them @FRCdc on Twitter and hear previous Respect Life Radio interviews with Szoch, including “The first 100 days of the Biden Administration gets a failing grade” and “How Planned Parenthood leads the culture of death.”

Kelsey Bolar: What feminism got wrong — and how to make it right

"For so long, the feminist movement has pitted men and women against each other, instead of allowing men and women to naturally complement each other — and encouraging them to work together to solve challenges [facing] families, individuals and societies," said Kelsey Bolar, a senior policy analyst at Independent Women’s Forum and contributor to The Daily Signal and The Federalist. "Women and girls, in particular, have been a focus of the feminist movement for the past few decades and so we've got this girl-boss, rah-rah women culture. And, in the midst of that, men and boys were really forgotten."

Follow her @kelseybolar on Twitter.

Joseph Backholm: The U.S. government’s ministry of truth wants to control you

“These are people who want to control you. They are going to use information to try to do that. They are going to try to use the authority of the official stamp of government to try to convince a number of people that: that is true because we say it's true; that it's false because we say it's false," said Joseph Backholm, senior fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement at Family Research Council. "And the sad reality is — and what '1984' [George Orwell's dystopian novel that has a Ministry of Truth], a big lesson of that is — there are a lot of people who will agree with that.” 

Backholm spoke regarding the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of the Disinformation Governance Board.

Follow him @josephbackholm on Twitter.

Sarah Parshall Perry: Gender identity sows confusion and subverts women

"The notion of gender identity is internal, it is subjective, it is malleable. And it's the first time in all civil rights law in the history of America where we're being asked to acquiesce to someone's belief about themselves, treating it as though it is immutable fact," said Sarah Parshall Perry, an attorney and senior legal fellow at the Meese Center of The Heritage Foundation. Perry cowrote a recent commentary, "Lia Thomas Was Just the Beginning. Biden Administration Wants to Eliminate Women’s Sports."

Follow Perry @SarahPPerry on Twitter.

 

Leila Miller: Catholics, rise up to protect the innocence of children

"Not enough people are standing up. Catholics, especially, have a role in society and the world to be salt and light, to be different. So when the world is becoming corrupt all around us, and when it's taking our children — when it's trying to steal our children for the devil — it's our job to be there as the one voice that says, 'No, we're not letting you have the children, we're not letting you have their innocence,'" said Leila Miller. "...It starts in the womb and goes all the way through. We need to be paying attention to every angle of this."

Miller is the author of books, including "Primal Loss: The Now-Adult Children of Divorce Speak," and co-author with Trent Horn of "Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today's Tough Moral Issues."

Listen to her previous appearances on Respect Life Radio: "Made This Way" and "Divorce makes children homeless" and "Wake Up! Our kids, and our souls, are in danger." See more at LeilaMiller.net.